THOMASVILLE — Don Sims, a member of the Thomasville City Council, announced on Veteran’s Day that city officials and local veterans would host a sign unveiling and proclamation presentation designating Thomasville as a “Purple Heart City” on Dec. 7. However, according to Sims, those ceremonies will be delayed until January or February of next year.

The city received the designation last summer but has not yet retrieved the signage from the Military Order of Purple Hearts Chapter 1000 in Fitzgerald. The exact location and time of the unveiling will be announced closer to the new date.

The Purple Heart designation means that Thomasville is a city that is very pro-veteran.

Purple Hearts are a military decoration awarded by the president to those wounded or killed while serving after April 5, 1917. It is the oldest military award still given to members of the U.S. military.

The Purple Heart designation is not related to the number of Purple Heart recipients in a particular city. It signals to all entering the city that Thomasville honors its veterans and supports veterans looking for employment or who live in or retire to Thomasville.

The city proclamation is a way of honoring the sacrifices of those that were either wounded or killed by the action of enemies of the United States during war time.

A movement to get cities and counties to get the Purple Heart designation took off in late 2011. There are hundreds of them around the country.